Mise En évidence De La Granulation Solaire à 2000 Å

Résumé Huit photographies monochromatiques (=2000 Å) au bord du soleil sont analysées en vue de mettre en évidence la granulation dans le domaine ultra-violet lointain. La fenêtre spectrale est définie par deux filtres interférentiels qui donnent une bande passante à mi-hauteur de 125 Å. Ces clichés de haute résolution ont été obtenus en ballon stratosphérique à une altitude de 30 500 m en profitant d'une fenêtre de transparence atmosphérique et en utilisant un télescope Cassegrain de 20 cm d'ouverture dont la résolution atteint 1. Ce télescope était porté par un dispositif pointeur de soleil dont la stabilité à court terme était meilleure que 2. Les clichés ont été pris à intervalles de 210 secondes avec un temps de pose de 0.25 seconde. On observe d'une part des variations de brillance grossières de largeur comprise entre 10 et 20 qui sont interprétées comme microfacules chromosphériques de durée de vie supérieure à 1/2 heure. On observe d'autre part une granulation dont la distribution densitométrique pour laquelle on a calculé les fonctions de corrélation et de structure présente une corrélation limitée à une distance angulaire de 4.

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Summary Eight ultra-violet monochromatic pictures at the limb of the sun are analyzed for evidence of granulation in this spectral range ( = 2000 Å). The spectral window (125 Å) is defined by two interference filters. These high-resolution pictures were obtained with a 20 cm Cassegrain telescope carried at 30 500 m of altitude by a stratospheric balloon. The resolution of the telescope is 1. The instrument is mounted on a sunpointing control of excellent short time stability (2). The pictures were taken at intervals of 210 seconds with a 0.25 second exposure. Large brilliant irregularities 10 to 20 in diameter are interpreted as chromospheric microfaculae with a half-hour lifetime. On the other hand, the smaller irregularities are interpreted as ultra-violet granulation. Using the correlation and structure functions, the analysis of the density distribution shows that spatial correlation of these irregularities is limited to a 4 range.

     

Systematic reductions of 19th century planetary observations

Systematic reductions of nineteenth century observations to the system of the FK4 are discussed. Reductions made on a nightly basis are described and compared with the results obtained through the use of conventional tables. The series of observations made at the Paris Observatory from 1837 to 1881 was used to compare the two methods, and a combined system of 24 000 FK4, FK4 Sup and AGK 3R positions and proper motions provided the reference stars. The results show that for Uranus the mean error of a single observation in right ascension is ±1..33 when tables are used for the reductions, and ±1.12 when nightly reductions are made, while in declination the corresponding mean errors are ±0.88 and ±0.80. The observations of Neptune show an even greater difference between the two methods; the mean errors for the tabular and nightly reductions are ±1.57 and ±1.09 in right ascension and ±0.88 and ±0.75 in declination. Secular rates in the (0–C)'s of Uranus of –0.029/year in right ascension and ±0.030/year in declination are present when the observations are reduced with tables. These rates are reduced to –0.007/year and +0.015/year, respectively, when nightly reductions are made.Presented at the Symposium Star Catalogues, Positional Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics, held in honor of Paul Herget at the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, November 30, 1978.     

CASPIR: A cryogenic array spectrometer imager for the MSSSO 2.3 m telescope

CASPIR is a near-infrared spectrometer/imager being built for the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories' 2.3 m telescope. The instrument is based on a SBRC 256×256 InSb detector array and uses AR-coated Sapphire, MgO, CaF₂, and BaF₂ optics to produce two imaging focal plane scales with 0.5/pixel and 0.25/pixel. Spectral resolving powers of 500 will be achieved through a 1×128 slit with three grisms designed for the J, H, and K bands. IJ, JH, and HK cross-dispersed échelle grisms will achieve resolving powers of 1100 through a 1×15 slit. Coronograph and imaging polarimetry modes will also be available. The various observing configurations are selected via five remotely controlled wheels. The instrument design and system architecture are discussed, and preliminary detector performance figures reported.     

Comparison of Sampson-Lieske theory of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter with observations

The aim of the present work is to compare photographic observations of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter with the theory developed by Sampson at the beginning of the century and corrected and implemented recently by Lieske.The comparisons between the observed and computed values give differences in geocentric angular distances of the order of 0.08 for modern observations (1968 to 1977) and of the order of 0.14 for older ones (1913 to 1928).These results lead to the suggestion that important long period defects still exist in the theory of Sampson-Lieske. This is not surprising, due to the difficulties of the computation of the long-period inequalities in mean longitudes, even in a first-order theory.Proceedings of the Conference on Analytical Methods and Ephemerides: Theory and Observations of the Moon and Planets. Facultés universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium, 28–31 July, 1980     

Morphological properties and origin of the photospheric facular granules

From time series of high resolution photographs, morphological properties of the photospheric facular granules were derived. The facular granules are cells of the common granular pattern, brighter than the normal granules when seen between cos = 0.6 and the limb. Their apparent diameter, which decreases towards the limb, is smaller than that of the normal granules: 0.65 and 1.25 respectively at cos = 0.55; their lifetime is 25 min but their bright stage lifetime is only 15 min; they are visible closer to the limb than the normal granules: 1.2 compared to 2–5; the brightening of the facular granules occurs at a faster rate than their fading. From the great similitude of both morphological properties and temperature models of facular and normal granules, it appears possible that the photospheric facular granules are convective cells modified by the presence of a magnetic field of some hundreds Gauss.     

The large-scale pattern formed by the spatial distribution of granules

The spatial distribution of granule sizes at the surface of the sun is investigated. Granules have been separated into two classes: those larger than 1.37 and those smaller, where 1.37 is the critical scale defined by Roudier and Muller (1986). It is found that granules are not distributed at random: large granules appear to be clustered, forming a cellular pattern with a characteristic scale of 7; small granules form a similar and complementary pattern. These patterns are probably related to the mesogranulation.     

Size of the hard X-ray source in the Crab Nebula

The size of the hard X-ray source in the Crab Nebula was observed with scintillation counters on board two balloons at a lunar occulatation on 24 January, 1975. The Gaussian width of the source is 34 (+17, –14) and the center thereof is offset from the pulsar by 6±4 at position angle 102°. The observed time profile can also be fitted to an alternative model of two line sources whose intensities are 48% at 11 and 25.5% at 7 on both sides of the pulsar.Paper presented at the COSPAR Symposium on Fast Transients in X- and Gamma-Rays, held at Varna, Bulgaria, 29–31 May, 1975.     

VLA and Trieste observations of type I storms,type IV and pulsations

A prime objective of this experiment was to determine whether type I or IV sources at 333 MHz contain features of small (arc sec) scale. With the VLA, our resolution was better than 4. However, we never observed any structure of size smaller than about 30, with the typical source sizes being between about 40 and 90.Many observations were simultaneous with the Trieste Astronomical Observatory records at 327 MHz. The observations were made on two days in November 1988. On 8 November the observations were of a type I storm about two hours after a major flare. On 14 November they were mostly of the main phase of a type IV event, including pulsations of a kind rarely seen, strongly circularly polarized, and having a well-defined period of about 12 s. The size of the pulsating source was about 40 by 60, and the brightness temperature was about 10⁹ K. We compare these pulsations with those observed earlier.     

Improvements of Planetary Theories Over 6000 Years

Taking advantage of the JPL Long Ephemeris DE406 and of the semi-analytical solution for the planetary motions VSOP87, we make an approximation of the differences JPL–VSOP. The form of the approximation (arguments and Poisson expansions) is analogous to the time series of the theory. We improve the planetary solution VSOP87 in two directions: a better fit of the integration constants via the highly precise observations used in DE406 and an extension of the length of validity covering the 6000 years of the source ephemeris. Over an interval of 2000 years, we achieve on the mean longitudes (test variables) a precision better than 0.005 for inner planets and 0.015 for outer ones. On the longest time interval covering 6000 years the precision is better than 0.03 for inner planets and 1.2 for outer ones.     

Two Offner-based IR camera optical designs

Tracing results for two designs based on the Offner reimager are given: a practical 256×256 NICMOS-3 IR/CCD I-K camera designed for use on a f/13.5 1-m telescope yielding a 154×154 field, and a hypothetical 1024×1024 pixel nextgeneration IR camera for a f/7.5 2.5-m telescope yielding a 244×244 field. Both designs produce near-diffration limited results.     

CH3CN J = 8 − 7 and CS J = 3 − 2 emission in orion KL

The data of the line series CH₃CN 8(K) – 7(K) K = 0 – 7 and line CS J = 3 – 2 were taken simultaneously. At beam size of 16 the emissions of CH₃CN and CS have a common center position located near IRc2 with deviations -8 and 5. The observed data show that in Orion KL core the integrated intensities of the two species have double peaks separated by a space of 14. The 2-dimension Gaussian fitting plots (FWHM) are ellipses ofD _maj = 26 andD _min = 22 for CH₃CN 8(K) – 7(K) K = 3 – 6 andD_maj = 39 D_min = 31 for CS J = 3 – 2 at a distance about 450 pc. Towards the multiple line emission region of CH₃CN 8(K) – 7(K) K = 3 – 6, using a simplified very large velocity gradient model to solve the statistical equilibrium and radiative transfer equations, we find to fit the observed results, the optimum physical parameters and kinetic temperatureT _k 120 K, densityn(H _a) 1.2 × 10⁵ cm^–3, velocity gradientV _gr 92 km s^–1 pc^–1 and the local abundance of CH₃CNF _ab 3 × 10^–8. However towards the region of single line emission of CS J = 3 – 2 we have to use LTE and the optical thin approximation on the assumption ofT _k= 120 K to obtain the lower limits of column density and then, an averaged abundance of CS of 6 × 10^–8.     

The solar minimum temperature determined by the CO (A 1Π-X 1Σ)

The synthetic Voigt profile of the following transitions (v=0,v=0), (v=0,v=1), (v=1,v=1), (v=1,v=0) have been computed for different concentrations and temperatures of CO and compaed to the measured intensities of the UV sunspot spectrum by a high resolution spectrograph. From this comparison the solar minimum temperature has been determined.     

Studies of granular velocities

Continuum brightness and Doppler velocity fluctuations in the lines 6301.5 and 6302.5 Å of Fei, measured in two selected spectrograms, are analysed by standard statistical (power- and coherence spectrum) methods. It is shown qualitatively that the oscillatory component of the velocity fluctuations (at spatial wavelengths > 4) decreases, while the supposedly granular component (at spatial wavelengths < 4) as well as the coherence between brightness and velocity fluctuations increases with optical depth.The spatial resolution of the spectrograms is estimated by comparing the observed power spectrum of brightness fluctuations with spectra found in the literature, assuming the combined instrumental and seeing spread function to be Gaussian. The resolution thus determined is = 1.24 ± 0.07. If the measured values are corrected accordingly, we obtain a true brightness rms of 10 to 14%, depending upon the shape of the power spectrum chosen for comparison, and a velocity rms at continuum optical depth of 1.3 km/sec. It is shown, however, that using the same correction function for the velocity power spectrum as for the brightness possibly gives rise to misestimating the velocity rms.Mitteilungen aus dem Fraunhofer Institut Nr. 100.     

Recent results on the solar diameter

Using optically identical telescopes at different sites, we have measured the solar diameter with a drift-scan technique. In order to investigate the cause of the observed fluctuations, we not only compare observations made simultaneously by different observers at the same telescope, but also observations made simultaneously at two different sites. Our main results are: (a) The mean error of a single drift time measurement is ±0.08s(or ± 1.1) at Izaña and ±0.11 s (or ± 1.7) at Locarno; this closely corresponds to the angular resolution at those two sites under normal seeing conditions, (b) We find no correlation between observations at different sites; a significant correlation exists, however, between observations made simultaneously by different observers at the same site: This indicates that most of the observed fluctuations are due to atmospheric effects (image motion) rather than personality effects, (c) The mean solar semi-diameter derived from a total of 1122 observations made in 1990 (472 at Izaña, 650 at Locarno) is R = (960.56 ± 0.03) (Izaña: 960.51, Locarno: 960.59); this may be compared with R = (960.32 ± 0.02) which is obtained from a re-analysis of 1773 observations made in 1981 (Izaña: 960.16, Locarno: 960.38). Although a small residual increase of the solar diameter during the last ten years seems to be indicated, we conclude that most - if not all - of the observed variations are due to variable seeing conditions, and that there is still no conclusive evidence for a genuine solar variation with amplitudes in excess of about ±0.3.     

Radial pulsation of less-massive yellow supergiants

The conclusions of the present paper broadly are: (a) The galactic concentration of doubles by comparing the distributions in galactic latitudes 0°<20° and >40° is nearly twice as large as the galactic concentration of stars in general. (b) The astrographic catalogues are not complete in the fainter magnitudes. (c) The large value of the ratioT:O _k (observed to optical number of pairs) from Kreiken's formula shows that almost all stars in the group 0<d5 and quite a few in the other two groups, viz., 5<d10 and 10<d15 might be shown true binaries. Consequently, Aitken's working definition of a true binary should be extended if it were to include all true binaries. (d) The doubles are probably stars of Population I. (e) The logarithm to the base 10 of the cumulative counts can be represented by an empirical relationA+B(m–1.5)+C(m–1.5)².Communication presented at the International Conference on Astrometric Binaries, held on 13–15 June, 1984, at the Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, Germany, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784–1846)     

Dependence of the correlation of small scale photospheric structures upon resolution

Correlations between continuum intensity, velocity, and equivalent widths of two Mn i lines as observed with two different entrance apertures tend to deteriorate with improvement in spatial resolution. The KPNO multichannel magnetograph was used to make area scans at the center of the disk with entrance apertures 3.5×2.5 arc and 1×1 arc. A coherence analysis shows that this effect is caused by marked differences of fluctuations in temperature and temperature gradients as well as in the velocity structure of photospheric elements of various sizes.     

The jump of the second derivative of the Moon's elongation

We present some results of new calculations ofD(t)-the second derivative of the Moon's elongation as a function of time. The paper contains an explanation of the well-known R. Newton's effecthe rapid decline inD(t) from about 700 yr to about 1300 yr. The new graph ofD is based on the revised dates of the ancient eclipses and has a qualitatively different character; in particular, the decline inD(t) vanishes completely andD(t) oscillates at a roughly constant value, which coincides with the modern one. This fact agrees with the independent chronological results in the author's [7] paper.     

The Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (HXIS)

The HXIS, a joint instrument of the Space Research Laboratory at Utrecht, The Netherlands, and the Department of Space Research of the University of Birmingham, U.K., images the Sun in hard X-rays: Six energy bands in energy range 3.5–30 keV, spatial resolution 8 over Ø 240 and 32 over Ø 624 field of view, and time resolution of 0.5–7 s depending on the mode of operation. By means of a flare flag it alerts all the other SMM instruments when a flare sets in and informs them about the location of the X-ray emission. The experiment should yield information about the position, extension and spectrum of the hard X-ray bursts in flares, their relation to the magnetic field structure and to the quasi-thermal soft X-rays, and about the characteristics and development of type IV electron clouds above flare regions.     

The physical librations of the moon,including higher harmonic effects

The equations of the physical libration of the Moon are developed using a representation of the Earth-Moon orbit as a Kepler ellipse referred to the lunar equator and expanding the lunar potential in terms of these Kepler elements. TheImproved Lunar Ephemeris is used to calculate solar perturbations, and a linear integration of all effects arising from lunar gravitational harmonics through the fourth degree performed. Aside from unobservable constant offsets of the principal axes, the main effects of the higher harmonics on longitude are: 10 six-yearly (argument), 1.2 three-yearly, 0.5 annual, and 0.1 monthly; on pole direction they are on the order of 0.5 six-yearly and 1.0 monthly. The higher harmonics must hence be taken into account in analyzing ranging data of 10 cm accuracy.Paper dedicated to Prof. Harold C. Urey on the occasion of his 80th birthday on 29 April 1973.     

The solar O i λ 7773 triplet

The reduction of observations of the O i 7773 triplet obtained at high spatial resolution (0.5) at two disk positions is described. Two sets of triplet profile data are presented at each disk position. One set represents data taken from 0.5 regions centered on the brightest granules, while the other set represents data taken from 0.5 regions centered on the cooler infalling intergranular material.